Thanking Bowser
by S. A. Morley
Summary: After Fawful's tyranny came to an end, Bowser was battered... both his ego AND his body. And so he lay, in his broken castle, grumbling beneath his injuries. True, Fawful had been beaten, but he felt nobody cared. And then a package arrived... Oneshot!


** Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Get it. Now. It's incredible and the best Mario game I've ever seen.**

** So, I recently saw the ending to the game and it really touched me. I decided, after watching it, that I should put it to words, since I **_**love Bowser to death.**_

** Here's the finished product! Wrote it over like, half an hour, so it's not anything grand, but it's still a new favorite of mine. :) **

** This is the scene after it all blew over, with Bowser narrating. I tried my best to get his voice accurate, so yeah. Oh, and I flipflopped something around, since I found the reason he was all beat up at the end to be a little odd. **

** Anyway, enjoy! Any feedback would be great! It's short and sweet. With emphasis on the sweet.**

I laid like a lump on my bed. I was somewhat numb and drowsy, falling in and out of sleep. My eyes were heavy as I stared into the busted up castle ceiling. My mouth was dry. It had been a while since I'd been given a painkiller, and much to my dislike, the last of it was starting to wear off; the sharp throbbing in my arm and leg was bounding back in full force.

Bowser, the almighty Koopa King, was looking pretty miserable about now.

I was just fine not two days ago. Everything was great... well, for the most part. I'd been fighting against this creepy little Beanish guy named Fawful for the past little while. He had barged into the Mushroom Kingdom - _my_ Mushroom Kingdom - in an attempt to take it over and make himself the new ruler.

He would not get the Kingdom if I was there to stop him. And even though he was using the magic of the ancient, powerful Dark Star, and had brainwashed all of my minions against me, I butted heads with him.

Anyway, a lot of crazy things happened during the whole charade. I'd been crushed beneath castles, turned into a giant on adrenaline, been locked in a safe, and sneezed a ship across a lake. I'd even fought a train, been granted vacuum-powers, and pushed a digging drill seventy miles with raw thigh power.

Oh, and I beat the lights out of an impersonator of me.

Very fulfilling.

On the bad side, though, Fawful had left me with broken bones, bruises, and a castle as beaten as its owner. I overlooked the repairs and renovations, now with my minions who were returned to their sanity, working to return my castle to its glory. I was taking a break at the moment, suffering on my bed when _they _walked in.

They didn't even bother to close the door. The open frame gushed into my bedroom the sound of hammers and chatter from those working outside. A headache sprung up with awful enthusiasm, slogging my head without mercy. I groaned to myself when the first of them spoke up.

"So, uh, King Bowser! How are you feeling?" It was Private Goomp, a Goomba and one of the more well-known members of my minion horde. But he wasn't renowned for his bravery or his leadership. No, he was known for his whiny voice and pajama-like clothes, and recently, another reason.

Private Goomp, with two others - a Shy Guy named Sergeant Guy and a Paratroopa named Corporal Paraplonk - had rebelled against me and joined Fawful's regime. They lead me to my treasury and threw me in a safe. They were mutineers.

And yet here they were, awkwardly asking how I was feeling.

I wanted to scream at them to beat it, but since I was more of a pile on my bed than a King at the moment, I remained sprawled.

Paraplonk said after, "We uh... We wanna rejoin as minions..."

_Huh? You've gotta be kidding!_

Sergeant Guy added, "Sir, it was an extreme error of judgement to trust Fawful. We offer our unflinching allegiance back to you!"

I didn't move, and for a little bit, they were quiet, awaiting my response. Their silence was heavenly. I wasn't as quick to listen to them, seeing as every syllable they said made my back ache.

Just when the silence was settling, a high-pitched, singsong voice chimed from the window, "FYI! FYI! FYI! FYI! FYI! Message from Princess Peach!" It was even worse than Goomp, Paraplonk and Guy.

The flutter of puny wings accompanied the tiny voice, and something flew through the window. The flutter was quick and light, and whatever it was entered the room, then began to flit around in circles over my bed, wielding something large.

Painstakingly, I heaved myself upright, blinking and taking glances around. At the foot of the bed were Goomp, Paraplonk and Guy, their faces pleading but their eyes following the tremendously large package that was swirling above the sheets. Taking a closer look, I found the package to be toted by a small white bird with a marble-sized crystal ball hanging from its neck. How it managed to suspend that package was beyond me.

It wouldn't stop swirling around, and it soon got annoying. A flare of anger rushed through me and I was tempted to whack it out of the air. I had second thoughts once I remembered my injuries.

"Who disturbs me?" I shouted, bearing my cast-free fist. The mutineers flinched, but they didn't move. "Hey! Chase that stupid bird out of here NOW!"

My shouting must've drawn the attention of my doctor, a Magikoopa named Kamek. With his bright blue cloak billowing behind him, he stampeded into the room, his beak flapping. He had to readjust his pointed cap from his run to get here. "Your Rottenness! It's from Peach's Castle!"

I raised a brow, my anger swerving from the annoying, flying package to my arch-nemesis Mario's place of residence. I didn't like that place, since it was one of the gigantic structures that had flattened me along my way. "Peach's Castle?"

Kamek shrugged. "From Peach, apparently..."

Distracted, his head whipped to and fro between the faces of the three creatures around him. His glasses flashed with ferocity. "Wait, Private Goomp! Sergeant Guy! And Corporal Paraplonk! You mutineers are still here?" He stabbed a finger at the door. "Get out of the here this instant!"

Paraplonk and Guy shrank; Goomp started crying. "Waah!"

Above their conversation, I growled at the bird, which was still zipping in front of my face frantically. It noticed my growl and screeched, "Package! Package! Package from Princess Peach to Large Angry Bowser Guy!" My brows raised as it eased the package in a neat manner in front of my feet.

Then it politely flew out the window.

With our delivery bird gone, we all gawked at the package. It was very pretty - a large, cream-colored box wrapped in red ribbons trimmed with gold with a matching, curly bow atop it. Curious of what was inside, I leaned forward... only to have the lid flip open and a familiar little creature fly out of the box.

Starlow exclaimed in her sweet, high voice, "HELLO YELLO!"

My eyes became wide at the sight of her. Starlow was a being known as a Star Sprite; she was really just a golden ball with a sparkling star floating above her. She had bright, glittery black eyes and long eyelashes, and her feet were simply brown shoes. Her smile was cute. She had no arms whatsoever, and was about the size of my head.

I had met her during a meeting at Peach's Castle. It seemed like forever ago that the disease dubbed "the Blorbs" was terrorizing the Kingdom (we have Fawful to thank for that), with Toads ballooning left and right into large, circular balls. They would roll all over the place, which quickly became hazardous to anybody in their path.

At the meeting, Peach, Mario, Luigi, Toadsworth, and a whole onslaught of Toads had gathered to discuss finding a cure for the Blorbs. Starlow was there when I crashed the meeting, upset that they hadn't invited me even though I was a resident of the Kingdom too.

After that, well, Starlow became a good friend of mine. I had even give her a nickname, "Chippy". But it turned out later that she had totally lied to me, which severed our relationship into pieces.

Immediately, I pulsed with rage at the little Star Sprite. "What in the... YOU! What do YOU want?" I roared in her face.

She bobbed in the air, blowing off my hostility. "I thought you might attack Peach's Castle again, so... I came to check on you." She smiled at me, as if our relationship hadn't exploded when I found out who she really was.

See, due to some vacuum-powers I was given, I had accidentally sucked up Starlow, and throughout my adventure against Fawful, I had imagined that, while inside of me, she was the "Chippy", as I had called her. When she got out of me, I recognized her voice, and the animosity I held towards her when I met her breached.

"Hmph!" I replied grouchily. "Hey, my castle got trashed too, y'know. That's my next project. Remodeling's not evil!"

She broke into a giggling spree. "That's a great attitude!"

That attitude was demolished when I angrily bellowed, "Shut up! Go away!" I didn't want anything positive, cheery, or uplifting at the moment, and this ball of joy wasn't helping my cause. All I wanted to do was wallow in my bodily misfortune until I got better.

Starlow still smiled. "Yes, yes, I'm going." She winked sweetly. "Enjoy your present from Princess Peach!" And just like the delivery bird before her, Starlow drifted out the window, giggling as she left.

My package suddenly didn't seem so intriguing. With the Star Sprite shrinking into the sky beyond, I shouted, "No! I don't want it!" even though she probably couldn't hear me.

Quiet followed. I merely stared at the large, shiny, curly ribbon irritably.

Kamek was eying the package. "Your Ungratefulness... You won't open it?"

With the coming and passing of the bird and Starlow, I had grown tired of company. I wanted to be alone, even if the pain of my broken arm and leg was rising. In an attempt at getting Kamek to leave, I barked, "Quiet, you! Go get back to work! Do something useful!"

The four of them were startled. "Sheesh... Take it easy..." Kamek grumbled before twisting around and trudging out of the bedroom.

My three mutineers had also been in the room for far too long. I needed alone time. "And you minions, too! Go fix my castle!" I commanded.

They each became starry-eyed with shock. Paraplonk's jaw was open, Guy looked like he was about to tackle me with a hug and Goomp had tears glistening in his eyes.

"Us minions... You mean... We're back in?" he flustered, breathless.

"Yes, just get to it!" With all this talking, the bandages on my cheeks were pinching. "Next time, you'd better pull your weight beating Mario!"

Paraplonk, Guy and Goomp each beamed like stars, their grins massive. Sprinting out of the room and for the tools outside, they thanked in unison, "THANK YOU SOOO MUUUCH!"

It fell quiet again in my bedroom. Nothing but the crackle of the torches and the groaning of the castle made any noise. I sat, ignoring the pain in my limbs. I stared at the door for a minute, my mind racing, before I watched the package at my feet.

Now that I was alone, my curiosity spiked. I loved opening presents, since I didn't get them very often. Not many even bothered to consider me as a recipient to gifts at all, so it was rare that I got anything.

I wondered, vaguely at first, what could possibly be inside this pretty present.

Why did Peach do this?

I didn't want anybody to watch me open it, since I had been so defiant before. Taking several glances around to ensure I was utterly by myself, I found the coast to be clear.

I swallowed and gazed at the present.

Slowly, I leaned forward and flipped the lid off of the box.

Inside was a two-layer cake. It smelled unlike anything I had ever smelled before; of unparalleled sweetness and, dare I say it, the touching smell of gratitude itself. Fat strawberries and delicate squirts of white frosting trimmed the top edge and behind them were frosting mushrooms. Four popping sparklers stuck out of the top face of the cake. Adorning the top were three small figurines, a miniature Luigi, Peach, and Mario, all posing. In front of them, at their feet, was an icing rendition of my face.

My body turned cold when I saw it, so wonderfully made and fantastic. Something poked my heart, I don't know what, but it had me breathless for a few seconds, staring transfixed at the gift. It took me several moments to realize that I was smiling. My throat tightened.

And from out of nowhere, a voice issued, _You have done well... _

_ You are amazing... _

_ You truly are absolutely amazing!_

**Ta-daa! Just to show you that I still exist! Tell me how it was!**

** Buh-bye!**


End file.
